Raspberry Pi needs no introduction, but since I can't start an article without its mandatory paragraph or two
of small talk, I will introduce it. Yes, indeed. Raspberry Pi is basically a micro-computer, a single board the
size of an enlarged credit card with a whole bunch of peripherals, allowing you to customize and create your
own little computer. Selling points, ability to play HD video, you get my drift. Plug it in to a monitor, add a
keyboard, and Bob's your uncle. Since Raspberry Pi is British, the phrase is doubly worth its place here.

Now take someone like me, a person who likes things big and sturdy, and I never custom build my own machines,
but now, there's a precedent. Cheap, affordable, made for games and education, Raspberry Pi seems like an ideal
opportunity to step away from the desktop and fiddle with the unknown. To wit, Dedoimedo tests the Pi. Yippie.

A media center for USD35, NOT!

That was my mission statement, and that is officially the cost of a single board. Only, in reality, the cost
for having a full media center is much higher. As you will soon learn. In fact, getting a Rasp was far from
trivial.

I tried the official vendor first. In fact, I tried them way back when Raspberry Pi was released, and then I
was put on an eight-month waiting list, after which my desire to test this thing spiraled to zero. It was only
after I purchased a smart TV recently that I decided to start playing
with all sorts of media centers - hint: a whole bunch of reviews coming your way. Anyhow, I tried my luck again
with the official manufacturer, without success.

Next, I tried eBay and found a lot of vendors selling Raspberry Pi. And then I started thinking. Having just
the board is not enough. I would need peripherals. I would need a micro-USB power socket, I would need an HDMI
cable, an SD card with some content that can be installed, a keyboard and mouse to control the system,
preferably Wireless due to scarcity of ports on the board, and of course, network. And a cases to contain it
all. One case to rule them all.

All of this let me to consider all kinds of so-called starter kits, which bundle most if not all or more of the
items discussed above, with a huge range of prices, SD card sizes, cases in different colors, and still more.
Eventually, I found a few worthy candidates. First, I purchased a kit from the UK, only to be notified by the
seller that they won't ship to my country, after I've made my payment, of course. Silly buggers. No matter. I
tried a few more sellers, but no one offered the ultimate pack that I needed.

Eventually, I went to Amazon and purchased the ultimate
smarter kit that contained a Pi Model B with 512 MB RAM, a black case, an HDMI cable, a Ralink RT5730 Wireless
N-band dongle, an 8GB micro-SD card preloaded with the New Out of The Box (NOOBS) software, a collection of
some six Linux distributions including media centers, a power supply, some LEDs and transistors, and such. This
cost me USD79.99 before shipping.

Then, I bought a compact and sexy Wireless keyboard+mouse from Wishtrac for GBP22.91 before shipping. And since my US package
from Amazon was coming with the US socket, I purchased a separate Euro socket for GBP4.99 before shipping.

All in total, the cost of Raspberry Pi for human use was about USD125.50 before shipping, so all in all,
something like USD150, which is already a very respectable sum by all means and hardly an entry level game. But
it sounds sexy writing USD35 in the title. Just imagine if I actually had to pay for everything rather than
have people send me their stuff. Only this time, this was my own hard-earned dough. Well, sort of hard-earned.

Setup!

Anyhow, here's a part that was really trivial to complete. I placed the board into its case, closed the case,
tightened four screws, connected the Wireless dongle, the HDMI cable, the power supply, the SD card, and the
keyboard thingie, and that was it. The NOOBS system booted to its menu, I selected one, and the rest is
history. Or rather the future, which is what you will be reading in the follow up article to this piece. It's
mostly about how I tried to make my USD35-media-center-NOT really work and what happened.

Physical placement

Now, here's a total artistic hack, but since Raspberry Pi is extremely light, you can use a double-sided
adhesive tape to attach it to pretty much any surface, including vertically, which is what I did, on the back
of the smart TV. Saves space, reduces clutter, looks posh.

Conclusion

Raspberry Pi is a very interesting concept. It's not as cheap as some might like to believe, especially if you
intend to use it for more than just writing software and code and other boring stuff. Four times as much, in
fact. But that's only part of the equation.

Functionality wise, this thing does what it should. The setup is quick and easy, and it cooperated well with
the associated peripherals, including the Wireless dongle. The NOOBS package is also a decent addition to the
starter kit, should you choose that path, although you can grab software on your own. Anyhow, I like the idea,
and I'm glad I've started dabbling. It should definitely be rather intriguing. Yup. Jolly good.

Oh, I've just received a notice from the post office that my Rikomagic MK802 IV quad-core mini PC is waiting to be claimed. At
USD79.95, before shipping, it could be a nice little contestant to Raspberry Pi. Yes, and we will still have
more items coming up. Shall I disclose some clues? Sure. Roku, CuBox-i, let's see what gives. Maybe. See ya.

P.S. If you want your hardware tested, send it over. I accept everything.